Swamp Dogg and Joel Kim Booster

24th September 2018

It’s a rare honor for a guest to be on Bullseye three times, but Swamp Dogg deserves it. He’s a psychedelic soul singer with a career that’s now spanned six decades. He’s been singing soul and R&B since he was 12. Back then he was Little Jerry Williams and his first single featured his mom on drums. He adopted the name Swamp Dogg in the early 70s and put out a bunch of stone-cold classics: Total Destruction To Your Mind, Rat On!, Cuffed, Collared & Tagged. On his latest record, Swamp collaborates with some extremely of-the-moment indie talent to create a wild left turn: it’s called Love, Loss & Autotune, and it’s out now.
Then, Joel Kim Booster. Joel’s a writer and comedian. He’s written for Billy on the Street, Problematic with Moshe Kasher and Netflix’s Big Mouth. And as a standup, he’s appeared on Conan, Comedy Central, @Midnight and more. He’s also one of the most exciting new comics around. He talks with Jesse about his evangelical, adopted upbringing, his stage persona (which, according to Joel, is “hot idiot”), and why he can’t stand to listen to his old material.

Episode notes

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Photo: David McMurry/Courtesy of Swamp Dogg
Swamp Dogg: On His Musical Upbringing, New Album, and Six Decade Career
Singer/songwriter and three-time Bullseye guest Jerry Williams is best known by his recording name Swamp Dogg. He started in show business as a kid. He put out his first song at the age of twelve with his mom playing drums. Then, in the 60s, he was a record company man. He worked A&R, produced bands, and wrote a few R&B hits.

He adopted the name Swamp Dogg in the early 70s and put out a bunch of classics: “Total Destruction To Your Mind,” “Rat On!,” “Cuffed, Collared & Tagged.”

His music is straightforward soul with a hilarious psychedelic lens.

These days, more and more people are getting hip to Swamp’s music. His old LPs have been reissued and he’s still making music! He’s closing in on two dozen albums now, and just put out a new one called “Love, Loss and Auto-Tune.”

Swamp Dogg tells Jesse about what’s it’s like to for him to still be performing today and, a time he was mistaken for being a white musician.

Click here to listen to Swamp Dogg’s interview on YouTube.


Photo: Jesse Thorn
Joel Kim Booster: On His Stage Persona, Defying Stereotypes, and Growing Up in A Conservative Christian Home
A quick warning: This next segment features some frank talk about sex. If that isn’t the kind of thing you want to hear, just a heads up.

Joel Kim Booster is a writer and comedian. He’s written for “Billy on the Street,” “Problematic with Moshe Kasher,” and Netflix’s “Big Mouth.” As a standup, he’s appeared on Conan, Comedy Central, @Midnight and more.

He’s Korean American and was adopted and raised by a white family in suburban Illinois. His upbringing was conservative and very, very religious – he was homeschooled until he hits his teens, and came out to his parents about being gay in his late teens.

In this interview, he talks to Jesse about his “hot” and “dumb” stage persona, his hopes for the afterlife, and the feedback he gets from other Asian American entertainers and his Asian American followers.

Joel’s comedy album is called “Model Minority.” You can find out the latest about Joel on his website: I hate Joel Kim.

Click here to listen to Joel Kim Booster’s interview on YouTube.


Photo: Hulton Archive/Getty Images
The Outshot: Simon Rodia’s Watts Towers
In this week’s Outshot, Jesse talks about the masterwork of a four-foot-ten-inch tall, 42-year-old, barely literate, Italian immigrant who wanted to make something big.

Click here to listen to The Outshot on YouTube.

In this episode...

Senior Producer
Producer
Maximum Fun Producer
Maximum Fun Production Fellow

Guests

  • Swamp Dogg
  • Joel Kim Booster

About the show

Bullseye is a celebration of the best of arts and culture in public radio form. Host Jesse Thorn sifts the wheat from the chaff to bring you in-depth interviews with the most revered and revolutionary minds in our culture.

Bullseye has been featured in Time, The New York Times, GQ and McSweeney’s, which called it “the kind of show people listen to in a more perfect world.” Since April 2013, the show has been distributed by NPR.

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Senior Producer

Producer

Maximum Fun Producer

Maximum Fun Production Fellow

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